Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 838, it's FHELX Morning Friday, it's Guest-O-Rama Friday, all slots are filled and we've got Chuck Mason, the Auburn City Clerk. Good morning, welcome back.
Chuck Mason: Good morning, Ted. How are you doing?
Paul Szmal: Doing well.
The Council last night heard the ceremonial presentation from Fire Chief Mark Fritz. It's Fire Safety Week and the theme this year is around smoke alarms. Make them work for you.
Chuck Mason: That's right and Chief Fritz on hand last night. Our Auburn Fire Department does a great job of getting out in the community every year and trying to do a lot of work on the side of prevention and education. This is the week, next week, that they'll usually get out to the elementary schools in the Auburn School District and try to do some preventative education. They participated this summer at the Summer Rec Program and it's always exciting for the kids and it's a great way to try to spread the word, to get back into the families, into the households.
Paul Szmal: The best way that you can, you know, fight a fire is with prevention and Chief Fritz on hand last night to discuss that and urging everybody in the community to check their smoke alarms. You should check them monthly but this week in particular, October 6th through 12th this year is Fire Prevention Week and we encourage everybody to take 5-10 minutes, stop what you're doing and just go through your house, go through your apartments. Make sure that you have your smoke alarms up and make sure that they're working. Sometimes you need to check the batteries. You might not realize that a battery goes dead but that's an important part of fighting fires and saving lives is to make sure those smoke alarms are working.
So Auburn Fire Department, like I said, they'll be out and about next week with a lot of fire prevention and all month long they'll usually on their social media page, they'll be putting out a whole bunch of fire prevention tips and we thank them for their service and encourage everybody to check those smoke alarms. They were just out dealing with a house fire two days ago in the city and I see that they just completed some joint training with Ithaca and Cortland at the Fire Training Center in Montour Falls.
Chuck Mason: Yes, and they're constantly training and you are correct, over on Fleming Street this week we had a, which was a pretty significant structure fire with a house and a garage and the Auburn Fire Department was there to do its best. The fire was pretty underway by the time they had gotten there but the best way to prevent these things is with smoke alarms, keep your family safe, make sure they're working for you and they'll go a long ways towards your family's safety.
Paul Szmal: We've talked a lot in the past several months about the various sources of funding the city comes up with, the state programs and grants, so tell us about the Northern Border Regional Commission and how they're going to help pay for the Lake Avenue Bridge.
Chuck Mason: Well we hope, this is a grant application heading in, the Northern Border Regional Commission is a federal program which covers northeastern states. We've been successful with this grant program in the past, we had received a half million dollars towards the South Street reconstruction project which we put towards a water line under the road there, replacement of a water main. You will remember Ted that earlier this year we applied for Northern Border Regional Commission funding for the Lake Avenue Bridge project, however that application we were unsuccessful. But fortunately they held a meeting with city staff and reviewed the application with everybody so we're reapplying at their next round here coming up.
We are going to reapply and then the news here also is with the Lake Avenue Bridge coming in, construction bids were put out and with the Lake Avenue Bridge coming in significantly higher than we had estimated. We are basically postponing the project to the 2026 construction season. Originally the plan was to try to get this done in 2025, but now we have a lot more work to do on obtaining the funding for this bridge as it's increased to about an eight million dollar project.
So part of trying to put the pieces of the funding together is to apply for this Northern Regional Border funding, so city staff will be sending this application in soon and we'll hope for the best. We'll probably know, usually have an announcement back on that particular pot of money within three or four months. So more to come on this, but we have officially communicated with New York State DOT, we do have Bridge New York funding, which is going to fund about half of this project, but we have received the project extension into the 2026 construction season. So more to come on Lake Ave over the next several months as we put the final pieces together of trying to figure out how we will 100% fund that bridge project.
Paul Szmal: What's the work that needs to be done? Was this something uncovered in a safety inspection or what's the nature of the work?
Chuck Mason: This is a rehabilitation of the bridge deck. It's not a replacement, but it's going to be a rehab. It'll basically look like we've got a brand new bridge up there once it's done. But basically what has happened is this project was awarded back in 2021, 22, and just the increases in the prices of everything that's happening with the world has caused the cost of this thing to go up pretty significantly. So there's just a little bit more work to do on the financing end of things here. Not so much work, really no more work to do on the design or anything. We've got this thing designed and it's pretty much ready to go. We just got to put the council's got to do some more work to get the funding in place.
But it is going to completely kind of rehab the structure of the bridge underneath. It'll totally replace the bridge deck, the railings, the lighting, things like that. It'll be a beautiful looking bridge once it's done. But it's a key bridge because on the eastern and south side of the city, it's the only connection point from downtown out to the lake. The west side of downtown, we have four bridges which connect down on the west side, State Street, Washington, North Division, and Aurelius Ave. But up on the eastern side, Lake Ave is the only connection point until you get up to White Bridge Road and Owasco Lake itself.
So it's a key bridge and it's probably Auburn's biggest bridge and most traveled bridge on any given day. So an important project for us, but we've got some work to do to try to figure out how we're going to come up with the extra three, four million dollars to complete the project.
Paul Szmal: We got an email reminder this week from Nick Valenti, the Veterans Concert that was supposed to be held at Falcon Park in mid-September was rescheduled. It'll be tomorrow for the Keuka County Veterans Memorial Committee and the Gold Star, Blue Star Mothers Memorial. Great music, great fun at Falcon Park.
Chuck Mason: That's correct and beautiful weather coming our way again this weekend. We've been very fortunate with a very nice September and now October starting out really beautiful. And down at Falcon Park on Saturday, 11 a.m. till 4 p.m., the band's name is Held Hostage. They're going to have some other musical acts down there as well. There will be free entry for the first 100 veterans with a hot dog and a drink, courtesy of the New York State Michael Dwyer program. There will also be bounce houses provided by Fiakro's Family Inflatables. Muzzy's Italian Ice and the Outsiders Truck Club down there. So lots of things to do. Come on out to Falcon Park. It's $5 per individual or $10 for your whole family, so a very affordable afternoon. Supports a good cause.
Now up in Wheatsport at the Aqueduct Park up in the town of Brutus, actually, where the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is, is where they're looking to install the new Gold Star Mothers Memorial and the fundraiser being held Saturday. All the money will go towards that project, so you're supporting a great cause. And City of Auburn, always a willing partner to host these events down at Falcon Park. It's a great facility for not only all the sports that we do down there, but for community events such as this. So come on out for a good cause this Saturday, October 6th, down at Falcon Park. They start up at 11 a.m. and last through 4 in the afternoon.
Paul Szmal: And by the way, if you are a Veteran, a free admission to the first 100 Veterans who come in and a free food ticket for every Veteran who shows up for a hot dog and a soft drink.
Also at Falcon Park, in a couple more weeks, October 26th, is the Home Run Halloween, and I know you still have some opportunities for businesses or non-profits to set up displays.
Chuck Mason: That's right. So we are spreading the word here. October is here, finally, and we are heading fast forward and right through the month probably to Halloween. And one of the biggest new events that we've got down, this is the fourth year we'll be down at Falcon Park with the Home Run Halloween. It's usually a very well-attended event. Kids will come out with their costumes and their entire family. And we're looking for groups or businesses to set up trick-or-treat tables. So if your business would like to participate in this, please call the Department of Parks and Recreation. Kim Bausow is the contact person. Her email is kbauso, kimbauso, kbauso, at auburnnewyork.gov, and then she will provide you with the information that you need to know.
We just asked that people bring down their own little table and pop tent, but people are pretty good at setting up these booths. It's just that we're trying to spread the word. We usually have about 30, 40 businesses down there. And so now is the time to sign up for the tabling part of this event. And if you're interested, get a hold of Kim at the Department of Parks and Rec, and she'll set you up with everything that you need to know about participating on Saturday, October 26. Kim's phone number at the Department of Parks is 1-525-547-37, and she'll be able to set you up.
And we really look forward to a great event, and always is. She's got all kinds of kids' activities planned, and we know that the kids will come out in full force with their costumes and everything. So we really are just looking for another dozen or so businesses to participate. Your group, your not-for-profit group, organization, your club, your sports team, anything you want. Come on down with a table and bring down your candy and make it fun for the kids. So Saturday, October 26, the event's 3-6, and we're looking forward to a great show of community Halloween fun on Home Run Halloween this year with the Auburn Double Days.
Paul Szmal: And if you didn't catch it, Kim's contact information's on the city website, auburnny.gov. You'll see the link for October 26th and Home Run Halloween.
Chuck Mason, City Clerk, thanks for the update as always.
Chuck Mason: Always appreciate it. Thank you, Ted. Have a good day, everybody.
